Here are a few of my favorite excerpts from The God Memo in the book "The Greatest Miracle in the World" by Og Mandino:
To: You
From: God
Let me share with you, again, the secret you heard at your birth and forgot.
You are my greatest miracle. You are the greatest miracle in the world.
Those were the first words you ever heard. Then you cried.
You did not believe me then... and nothing has happened in the intervening years to correct your disbelief. For how could you be a miracle when you consider yourself a failure at the most menial of tasks? How can you be a miracle when you have little confidence in dealing with the most trivial of responsibilities? How can you be a miracle when you are so shackled by debt and lie awake in torment over whence will come tomorrow's bread?
You have not known; you have not heard; you have not understood.
You have been told that you are divinity in disguise, a god playing a fool.
You have been told that you are a special piece of work, noble in reason, infinite in faculties, express and admirable in form and moving, like an angel in action, like a god in apprehension.
You have shown no knowledge or appreciation of your uniqueness.
Yet, you are the rarest thing in the world.
... A priceless treasure, possessed of qualities in mind and speech and movement and appearance and actions as no other who has ever lived, lives, or shall live.
No longer hide your rarity in the dark. Bring it forth. Show the world. Strive not to walk as your brother walks, nor talk as your leader talks, nor labor as do the mediocre. Never do as another. Never imitate.
Be yourself.
I gave you the power to think.
I gave you the power to love.
I gave you the power to will.
I gave you the power to laugh.
I gave you the power to imagine.
I gave you the power to create.
I gave you the power to plan.
I gave you the power to speak.
I gave you the power to pray.
Choose to love... rather than hate.
Choose to laugh... rather than cry.
Choose to create... rather than destroy.
Choose to persevere... rather than quit.
Choose to praise... rather than gossip.
Choose to heal... rather than wound.
Choose to give... rather than steal.
Choose to act... rather than procrastinate.
Choose to grow.. rather than rot.
Choose to pray... rather than curse.
Choose to live... rather than die.
Remember, then, the four laws of happiness and success.
Count your blessings.
Proclaim your rarity.
Go another mile.
Use wisely your power of choice.
And one more, to fulfill the other four. Do all things with love... love for yourself, love for all others, and love for me.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Monday, February 1, 2010
A Glimpse Into What I Think
Here's how my mind works:
I was thinking of a book I recently read ("God Sleeps In Rwanda by Joseph Sebarenzi)about a man in Rwanda whose father was a polygamist. They belonged to the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, and I don't know what their doctrine or beliefs are on polygamy, but it got me thinking about how this man's father might have been accepted by Mormons if he was converted.
So I was wondering... if a man lives in a country where polygamy is a legally and culturally acceptable practice and he has more than one wife and then converts to Mormonism, would the church allow him and/or his wives to be baptized?
My thoughts at first were that he would probably be out of luck since the Mormon church banned polygamy more than a century ago and excommunicates those who practice it. BUT... since he would have been following a practice that was acceptable under his own country's laws and would have married them before coming to a knowledge of the gospel and the church's beliefs, can he really be held accountable for it? Could they ask him to give up a practice that would then cause his family to be torn apart? (Which would then go against the teachings of the church to not cause separations between husbands and wives.) Or are they able to make allowances for a circumstance like this, since there is no way to "repent" of it without breaking up a family? (And would he really need to "repent" anyways? Is polygamy a sin or just an unacceptable practice except when sanctioned by God?) Would they allow him to be baptized and keep his wives but then work hard to help him teach his children that polygamy is unacceptable? How would he be integrated into a culture that revolves around fidelity to one spouse?
I can see where there would be a lot of different aspects to have to consider and I have no idea what the answers would be. Thankfully, I don't think I'll ever be asked to decide on something like this. But it's still interesting to think about. After all, there are a lot of Mormons out there in the world whose cultural practices and traditions are much different than the ones we in the US are familiar or even comfortable with. It doesn't mean we're right and they're wrong; we just have different ways of looking at and doing things.
I'm sure this would be a pretty rare scenario, but now you know what my mind comes up with when I have a bit of free time. Scary, huh?
I was thinking of a book I recently read ("God Sleeps In Rwanda by Joseph Sebarenzi)about a man in Rwanda whose father was a polygamist. They belonged to the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, and I don't know what their doctrine or beliefs are on polygamy, but it got me thinking about how this man's father might have been accepted by Mormons if he was converted.
So I was wondering... if a man lives in a country where polygamy is a legally and culturally acceptable practice and he has more than one wife and then converts to Mormonism, would the church allow him and/or his wives to be baptized?
My thoughts at first were that he would probably be out of luck since the Mormon church banned polygamy more than a century ago and excommunicates those who practice it. BUT... since he would have been following a practice that was acceptable under his own country's laws and would have married them before coming to a knowledge of the gospel and the church's beliefs, can he really be held accountable for it? Could they ask him to give up a practice that would then cause his family to be torn apart? (Which would then go against the teachings of the church to not cause separations between husbands and wives.) Or are they able to make allowances for a circumstance like this, since there is no way to "repent" of it without breaking up a family? (And would he really need to "repent" anyways? Is polygamy a sin or just an unacceptable practice except when sanctioned by God?) Would they allow him to be baptized and keep his wives but then work hard to help him teach his children that polygamy is unacceptable? How would he be integrated into a culture that revolves around fidelity to one spouse?
I can see where there would be a lot of different aspects to have to consider and I have no idea what the answers would be. Thankfully, I don't think I'll ever be asked to decide on something like this. But it's still interesting to think about. After all, there are a lot of Mormons out there in the world whose cultural practices and traditions are much different than the ones we in the US are familiar or even comfortable with. It doesn't mean we're right and they're wrong; we just have different ways of looking at and doing things.
I'm sure this would be a pretty rare scenario, but now you know what my mind comes up with when I have a bit of free time. Scary, huh?
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